


New Deer's Eve

by Otterly



Series: deer/tiger idiots [8]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:13:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22031599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Otterly/pseuds/Otterly
Summary: The dawn of a new era.
Series: deer/tiger idiots [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1094721
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	New Deer's Eve

**Author's Note:**

> This is part like, eight out of this series so far so you should probably catch up if you're reading this out of nowhere <3

Most of the time I feel like I’m on a mountain. I feel like I’m alone at the peak, floating in the air and I’m looking up at the sky and the sky is my life playing before my eyes. But sometimes there are moments that make me stop looking up, moments where I tilt my head back down and I feel like my feet are touching the ground and I’m finally _here_ and _now_.

It’s 2018, I’m thirteen years old and I’ve nearly killed another mammal. That stupid looking deer, Jamie. The one that thinks he’s the king of the school. I’m in the washroom and it smells like stagnant water and pee. I don’t want to sit on the floor. I’m stuck in a stall that’s too small to comfortably fit me. I stretch my arms out and press my paws against the walls, and the stability makes me feel like I’m not floating away. I close my eyes.

I smell deer. The same one that I nearly killed—and that’s not a joke, either. I could have done it. I thought I wanted to, but that wouldn’t have been a good thing to do. That would have made my mom sad, which is the last thing I want.

A plan forms in my mind. Prey mammals like food. My mom’s proof of that. We managed to keep our money and the clients of her restaurants because the food is good. Good food transcends prejudice. Good food and money. I step outside of the stall.

Later that day, I’m crying on a space net. It’s not long after that that Jamie hugs me for the first time and I’m introduced to the world. There’s nothing beyond him, nothing better or grander, nothing that could fill the empty place in my heart other than this scrawny thing in my arms that doesn’t even have his antlers yet.

It’s 2019. Jamie’s told me that he’s moving to Tundratown for high school and for the first time in a long time I am angry. The blood rushing through my veins feels sour, like vinegar, and my words are just as harsh. I’m not angry because he’s moving. I’m angry because he asked me—no, he didn’t even ask. He just assumed that I’d go with him.

My life does _not_ revolve around him. My life is my own. I don’t need him. How can he just assume that? Does he think I’m just—does he think he owns me or something? He’s no one. He doesn’t dictate what I do. He’s _nothing_ to me.

He says something back, but the bite of his words is taken away by the tears in his eyes and I’ve never regretted anything more.

Until 2021. I get a phone call at at party that Jamie’s convinced me to throw.

My dad is dead, killed by criminals while he was undercover, though I don’t actually know that. That’s just my mom’s guess. She sounds like she doesn’t care, but I know better. She’s sad. I’m devastated. My dad wasn’t really around—he can barely call himself a dad, really, but I care anyway. I remember the good moments. I felt grounded in all of those. I felt a part of the world when he would look at me.

I can feel the invading bodies poisoning themselves in my own home and I want them out. I only want Jamie. I don’t know where he is.

I find out soon after, and soon after that I’m yelling at him. I barely know what I’m yelling about. I push him out of the car and I drive off. My paws are shaking. Tears are flowing down my face, but I’m not crying. Not yet.

I’m alone in my car, in the snow. I drive home. I keep trying to talk to myself.

“There are a lot of trees in Tundratown.”

“It’s weird that no one’s out.”

Only when I park outside of my house do I cry, and I cry hard. My entire body seizes with my sobs. I sound like an animal. I’m pathetic.

I spend the next day crying, listening to the Burnout 3 soundtrack. I’ve been trying to play it all night—old racing games calm me down when I’m feeling upset—but it hurts too much. I’m broken. I don’t feel like I’m ever going to be fixed.

Jamie proves me wrong yet again. He’s ridiculous. He’s so completely absurd that I can’t help but be in the moment around him. His singing voice is admittedly, not the worst, but it’s not the best either, and when I hear him butchering my favorite song from Grease I’m immediately down the stairs.

When I see him there, I feel every possible emotion at once. Elation, fury, despair, revulsion, hate.

We have our first kiss minutes later, and the only emotion I feel then is love. His lips are soft and they taste like vanilla mint chapstick. I don’t stop thinking about that kiss, or the many that we share that day, for weeks after the fact.

In about twenty minutes it’s going to be 2022. At this point we’ve been dating for a couple of months now. The night’s in full swing. Most of our year (sophomores) is over at a junior’s party pretending like we fit in. I’m outside, contemplating, thinking about the last few years.

I’m on the porch, sitting on a comfy couch underneath a couple of heaters, looking out at the yard. I try and look for shapes in the shadows. Even my big cat eyes are finding it hard to spot certain things in the snowy dark.

Jamie went to...I’m not sure where he is, but he’ll show up eventually.

And he does. It doesn’t take him more than a few minutes to find where I am and come outside to sit with his legs across my lap and his arms around my neck. He nuzzles into my neck. I think that’s his favorite spot. Probably because it’s where I’m warmest, but I want to believe that the new cologne I went out and bought last week is working its charm.

My dad’s funeral was a few weeks ago. I tried not to cry in front of all my family members, but I couldn’t handle it. The only thing that made me feel better were Jamie’s hooves, wrapped around one of my paws, kneading them like dough.

He settles into doing the same thing now, minutes away from the new year.

“What’s up?” he asks.

How do I tell him about the rings without sounding weird?

“I’ve just been thinking,” I say. “I’m very happy we’re dating.”

“I am, too,” he replies, kissing the centre of my throat sweetly. “There’s more than that on your mind, though. C’mon. Spill!”

I smile at him. “You know, some day you’re going to read me completely wrong.”

“But not today?”

“I love you.”

Jamie smiles, blushing. His big green eyes get a little wet. “I love you too. Please tell me what’s up. You’re kinda freaking me out.”

“I’m a little freaked out too, honestly,” I say. “Look, you know how my mom really likes you?”

He nods. “She loves me more than you, you know.”

I snort. “That might be true. But that’s not exactly what this is about. You want to know something about tigers? We like our territory. And when we take on a—a _mate_. Don’t laugh, I know. I know. But when we acquire a serious lover, we like to make sure that the world knows not to mess with our property.”

“You got me a collar,” he says, eyes wide. His tail thumps against the couch. “I didn’t realize you were into that pred-prey stuff but it totally makes sense. Does it say my name? Are you gonna make me wear it at school?”

“I didn’t get you a collar,” I say as steadily as I can, though the fact that my entire face feels like it’s on fire isn’t helping much. “I did get you something else. A gift.”

“Another one?” he whines. “Cammie, the new computer was way more than enough. Especially when all I had to give you was a pair of pajamas.”

“Think you mean pa-jamies,” I say seriously, before shaking my head. “No. This gift is a little more personal. I just want to ask you not to freak out when you see it. It’s not exactly what you’re gonna think it is, but it’s kind of what you’re gonna think it is. Just stay calm, okay?”

“You’re not gonna kill me and sell my corpse, are you?” Jamie asks. “Because I totally forgot to shower earlier and I feel like you wouldn’t get a good price on my fur.”

I squint at him. “You took like half an hour in the bathroom earlier.”

“I was making sure my fur was nice,” Jamie says, squirming a bit. “Y’know, for a few minutes from now.”

“Oh, did you want to go inside for the countdown?” I ask, starting to hook my arm underneath his legs so I can carry him to the party.

He lays a hoof on my forearm and shakes his head. “I want to be here with you.”

That makes me smile. “Okay.”

“Now then, what’s your gift?”

“Don’t freak out,” I remind him.

He shrugs.

I reach into my pocket and pull out the ring box, and as soon as Jamie sees it he scrambles off of my lap. His eyes are dinner plates and his fur would be completely fluffed up if he were the same species as me.

He can barely speak, his words trip over themselves like they’re different channels on a TV being cycled through. “You— _you’re gonna—_ didn’t realize—you _really_ just— _”_

I suppose I was asking for it. I reach my free paw towards him, and he falls back into my embrace like we’re two ends of a stretched slinky coming together again. He sits beside me on the couch, my arm around him, and he never takes his eyes off of the ring box

“I told you not to freak out,” I mumble.

His hooves dart forward and open it, and he starts crying immediately.

“They’re really pretty,” he whines.

They are. They’re identical sterling silver bands with two lab grown sapphires laid into the middle, magenta in hue and completely pristine. Mom insisted that I pick something nice out.

“This isn’t an engagement,” I explain, stroking Jamie’s back. “This is a—a sign of a partnership. I never want to be locked out of your head anymore. We’re one and the same, and you’re my territory. Do you accept my proposal?”

Jamie’s able to tear his eyes off the rings to look at me and for the first time in my life I don’t feel alone on the mountain. I feel like he’s there with me, playing on the peak like it’s the playground we first became friends on.

He’s crying, and that just makes me cry too.

“I hope this isn’t too weird,” I say.

“I love them,” he replies. “I love you too.”

The countdown to the new year chimes out from behind us. Jamie leans forward to kiss me, and our lips meet. He tastes like pepsi and cheap rum and a little bit like pineapple pizza. I take the opportunity to slip one of the rings over his hoof. He deepens the kiss as he takes the other ring to slip it over mine.

It’s a moment that I know I’m going to remember for the rest of my life.

We pull away, panting and hot despite the cold Tundratown night.

Jamie’s about to say something—

Glass breaks. A mare in a cocktail dress crashes through the door, slamming on the ground hard.

We get up, Jamie moving behind me. My first priority is him. Through the broken door frame steps a reindeer in a red bomber jacket, looking annoyed. One of her antlers has been snapped off, and blood streams down her face in a squiggly line.

Zuri fixes a glare on both of us. “You two. We’re leaving.”

“What the fuck?” Jamie’s gaze swings back and forth between the unconscious horse and our friend.

“ _Something_ had to go wrong,” I say.

“Let’s go. Now. I’ll fill you in on the details later but threre are a bunch of crazy juniors after you, deer boy.”

Zuri pushes past us, jogging towards the yard’s back gate. There’s yelling quickly makings its way towards our location from inside of the house.

Jamie shrugs and takes my paw, and we run into the yard too, away from the party, off into another adventure. I feel the snow beneath my feet, crunching as my weight smushes it down. I feel like I’m on the ground, and I silently beg Jamie not to let go of my paw. As long as he’s there, I won’t float away.


End file.
